WHEREAS, Thursday, March 29, 1945, will mark the three hundred and seventh anniversary of settlement and establishment of the Colony of New Sweden in 1638 at "The Rocks" now enshrined in Fort Christina State Park in the City of Wilmington; and

WHEREAS, Fort Christina, founded under the leadership of the intrepid Peter Minuit, became the seat of the first permanent settlement in the State of Delaware and in the Delaware River Valley as well, and marked the introduction of government, religion, education, agriculture, commerce, and industry in our State; and

WHEREAS, the General Assembly of the State of Delaware passed a resolution directing the Governor to proclaim March 29 of each year as Delaware Swedish Colonial Day in cognizance of these contributions; and

WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that this recurring anniversary of the founding of the first permanent settlement upon the soil of Delaware be commemorated by appropriate observances and exercises,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Walter W. Bacon, Governor of the State of Delaware, do hereby proclaim Thursday, March 29, 1945, as

DELAWARE SWEDISH COLONIAL DAY

and request that this day be observed in schools, churches, patriotic and historical societies, and other institutions and organizations with appropriate ceremonies, and that State, county, city and town governments display on that day the flags of the United States and of the State of Delaware, and that the flags of the United States and the Kingdom of Sweden be flown in Fort Christina State Park.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, Walter W. Bacon, Governor of the State of Delaware, have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal to be hereunto affixed this twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-five and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-ninth.